THE National Assembly was plunged into further crisis yesterday as Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas said he would not bother to go out and vote if he wasn't a politician.

THE National Assembly was plunged into further crisis yesterday as Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas said he would not bother to go out and vote if he wasn't a politician.

He said, "What is the point of getting up in the morning, cleaning my teeth, washing and shaving, if you go to work at an institution like this?"

The former Plaid Cymru president's comments came the day after AMs pulled back from embarking on a marathon debate about seating arrangements in the Assembly debating chamber. Instead the matter will be discussed by an all-party committee.

It has led to younger AMs saying they are considering whether to remain within the Assembly.

Lord Elis-Thomas said, "This was a total embarrassment to me. I'm not amazed that a Conservative AM like Jonathan Morgan is considering his future.

"The terrible irony is that the only party which is behaving sensibly in the Assembly is the Tory party.

"People don't see anything being done and it [the Assembly] doesn't make any difference to Welsh politics."

When asked if he had suggestions about changing the culture of Welsh politics, Lord Elis-Thomas said, "Changing the culture is a process - I knew it was going to be hard, but not as painful as this."

Jonathan Morgan, who represents South Wales Central, said, "I enjoyed the first Assembly term, but since May's election Labour has shown an unprecedented level of arrogance.

"There are less opportunities to scrutinise the workings of Government, and too much time is spent on ridiculous debates.

"If you had asked me a year ago whether I wanted to stay here or go to Westminster, I would have favoured staying here because I am particularly interested in the delivery of services like health and education.

"But now I'm extremely disillusioned, and unless I can see a material improvement I have to consider whether my future is going to be here or elsewhere.

"For an institution that should be a national body, it is becoming nothing more than the parish council in the Vicar of Dibley. Unless AMs - opposition and government - do something to rectify (the situation) then I can see AMs throwing up their hands and walking away."

Last night, however, a backbench Labour AM accused the Presiding Officer of helping opposition parties bring the Assembly into disrepute by failing to rule out of order more than 800 amendments on the seating arrangements issue.

The amendments were laid after Labour Business Minister Karen Sinclair proposed an hour-long debate on the Assembly Government's wish to seat the 30 Labour AMs on one side of the chamber aisle, with the 30 opposition members on the other side.

Alyn and Deeside AM Carl Sargeant said that Lord Elis-Thomas should have used procedural rules to bar the amendments on the basis that they were "trifling or tendered in a spirit of mockery".

Mr Sargeant added, "I'm concerned that by following the Conservatives' example, as implied by the Presiding Officer, other opposition parties may behave sensibly and attempt to scupper further Assembly Government business they disagree with by tabling huge numbers of amendments.

"On May 1, Welsh Labour won the election, and the change appears to have affected the opposition parties who are keen to keep their version of the status quo.

"The Assembly Government intends to implement its manifesto over the next four years, the opposition does not want this to happen. It appears that they are prepared to use dirty tactics to scupper business.

"The Tories have a past, they attempted to scupper Assembly business before, using the same tactics they employed this week.

"The Presiding Officer had every opportunity to turn down the amendments using existing Assembly guidance, but for his own reasons, he chose not to do so," Mr Sargeant said.

"Instead he has chosen to praise an opposition party with a history of opposing devolution and adept at abusing Assembly processes."

A spokesman for Welsh Labour said, "A way ahead has now been found for the issue of where AMs sit, and we would rather not comment on what the Presiding Officer has said."